


Golden Crown and the Pink Menace

by kiarcheo



Category: Six - Marlow/Moss
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Families of Choice, Found Family, Gen, In a way, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Soft Catherine of Aragon, Sort Of, enemies to family, mentions of what happened to Katherine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-09
Updated: 2020-10-11
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:29:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26913673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiarcheo/pseuds/kiarcheo
Summary: Catherine had known, intellectually, that her nemesis was a teenager, but it didn’t really sink in until the day their school called because her number was the only one on their emergency contact list
Relationships: Catherine of Aragon & Katherine Howard
Comments: 18
Kudos: 97





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this months ago and then forgot about it. I had some notes and plans to write more, but I don't think it's gonna happen anymore. I felt bad just leaving it in my folder forever so I decided to post it anyway. Hope you like it.
> 
> Heavily inspired by [bethanythemartian](https://bethanythemartian.tumblr.com/post/613173351936147456/)'s interpretation of [this writing prompt](https://writing-prompt-s.tumblr.com/post/613128786853199872/)

Catherine had known that she was young. Her so-called nemesis. Maybe it was some of her most athletic feats while escaping. How she was more active during holidays periods. The recklessness, which reminded her of her past nemesis, Green Phantom, and a time where Catherine had been younger too.

Now. That had been a true nemesis. Green Phantom had seemed to have two cornerstones in their villain career: environmental causes (hence the green part of the name) and antagonising Catherine’s heroic alter-ego. From making her look like a fool every time she failed to catch them (Catherine and everyone else, to her defence, hence the Phantom part) to leaving cheeky messages on the crime scenes, Green Phantom had been a pain in her ass up until the moment they suddenly disappeared.

Pink Menace was quite different. Catherine had not even realised there was a new player in the game, to be honest. Until some corporate bigwig had gone on a rant on live television questioning why the supposed protector of the city wasn’t doing anything to stop ‘this pink menace’. Next day everyone and their cousin was talking about the recent spree of attacks to very different types of businesses, the only common link being the perpetrator, who always seemed to wear some pink in her attire. And Catherine says ‘her’ because they have met and fought multiple times and she recognises a girl when she sees one, even in mask and costume, and not because of some kind of gender-stereotyping colours crap. Not that they were particularly good either. Good enough to hide her identity? Sure. But nothing more. She supposes that villains don’t really get sponsorships for that kind of thing.

So yes. Next day everyone was talking about Pink Menace and why Golden Crown wasn’t stopping her. Catherine isn’t sure what it is with monikers and colours. Not the name she would have chosen for herself but in their business you either proclaim your chosen name first or you’ll get stuck with whatever the media and the public decide to call you. And it seemed like both her and her nemesis made the same mistake. To be fair, Catherine knows she could have gotten something much worse, and a golden crown made a good symbol for merchandise at the very least. She was happy she hadn’t gotten stuck with some kind of animal, or worse, insect. Also she knows how to pick her battles, she made a career – a real life, no masks involved one – out of it. So she agreed with the sponsors. Yeah. It’s not a free for all, those things are regulated, you know? Not everyone can be a hero™. But some accountability in exchange for insurance (you never know when you’ll end up destroying something), financial support and protection of her anonymity seemed fair. Naturally she made sure that anything she signed was absolutely watertight.

Anyway. Back to the point. Pink Menace was obviously young. But Catherine thought she was college age at the very least. Maybe recently moved away from home. Surely her parents would have realised she was out all night doing crimes. Well, maybe not the crime part, but they would have known their child was staying out all night, right? Also, as mentioned before, more activity during holidays pointed towards her being a student.

So Catherine took it easy on her. Pulled her blows most of the time. Not to say that Pink Menace wasn’t good, she definitely could put up a fight. Catherine had more experience, but in a full-out fight? She wouldn’t be overly confident about winning. But they never came down to that.

So maybe Catherine let her go away easily, hesitated just _that_ fraction of a second before making the jump, stopped to make sure that everyone else was fine (they always were) before continuing the pursuit and by then, Pink Menace had disappeared. And if she caught a flash of pink hair around the corner or up the fire exit stairs…nobody would know (but she kept thinking that she should really tell her to secure her hair better, because that’s a sure way to get identified and caught).

And if she was a bit laxer when Pink Menace’s target was one of Henry Tudor’s properties? Well, that just happened. Surely it wouldn’t hurt too much a man who called himself ‘the King’ (with the public going along with it). And it’s not like Golden Crown has personal matters to settle with him…now, Catherine might be a different story, but thank God for secret identities.

Of course, she couldn’t just let things go all the time. Accountability, like she said. Catherine thinks Pink Menace knows that too. So sometimes she’d escape abandoning her haul as if Golden Crown had stopped her. Catherine has her suspicions that they are mostly useless things and Pink Menace still kept whatever she actually broke into the buildings for. But she has no way to prove it nor any wish to do so. And Henry never publicly complained about it. Which on one side raised alarm bells, along with the fact that she has seen Pink Menace getting away with things that had not been included in the official report (perks of her real-life job). Why not admit that something had been stolen unless you shouldn’t have had it in the first place? On the other side, it was good for her because it left her good reputation intact…which is everything in the hero-ing business. 

Also it’s not like Pink Menace was actually evil. Catherine would have classified her as a criminal rather than a villain. She always tried not to hurt people. Didn’t seem to have any grand plan besides robbing or destroying properties, mostly owned by Henry (or connected to him, she’d discover later). Media and public painted it as a rivalry, hailed Pink Menace as Golden Crown’s new nemesis after Green Phantom’s disappearance. And they got along with it. It was publicity and publicity brings money. For Golden Crown at least. It only made things harder for Pink Menace, but it’s not like they ask for the villain’s opinions in these cases. Still they had an unspoken agreement that it was for show. They both pulled their blows. Went easy on the other.

But, again, that’s not the point. The point is that Pink Menace was a villainess and Golden Crown’s nemesis. According to the press it was an all-consuming rivalry. In real life, Catherine didn’t exactly spend a lot of time thinking about it. She had a busy life. A busy double life. Superheroing doesn’t make you the big bucks. And while her real-life job gave her flexibility and freedom and, yes, money, it also gave her loads of responsibilities. In short, she got stuff going on.

So you can imagine the surprise when she got a call from a school. Saying that her ‘child’ had been taken to the hospital, nothing life-threatening, but needed to be picked up. The name they used was one of her identities. Yes, she has more than ones. Some more legal than others. She had her name changed…legally. She has a couple of identities associated with heroing…wouldn’t call them exactly legal, but they are sanctioned. But the one they called? Not connected to Golden Crown at all. She hasn’t used it in ages and she had almost forgot that she had even made it (that’s not to say that it wouldn’t stand up to scrutiny…she is nothing but careful and meticulous in what she does, always had been…with one big glaring exceptions that she tries not to think of). Anyway, she might have forgotten about it, but she was absolutely sure that she didn’t have any minor associated with it. And she certainly didn’t have a child in real life. It’s not like something you can forget until someone reminds you and you go ‘oh, yeah, I used to have one’.

She considered the possibility of it being a trap. But the identity was not associated to her hero alter-ego. Or to her real job, which also made her a fair share of enemies. The hospital seemed a weird location anyway.

So she went.

She wasn’t sure what she was expecting, considering the call she had gotten, but she was still surprised when she was shown to a room where a young girl, a teenager actually, immediately started to apologise as soon as she saw her. Saying that she had told them not to call her. A nurse interrupted the girl, explaining, probably not for the first time from the tone, that they couldn’t let her leave without her guardian signing her out.

It didn’t take long for Catherine to realise who the girl was. She didn’t know many teenagers, and those eyes were familiar. Perhaps surprising that she noticed that first as the pink hair were a dead giveaway.

As she was explained what happened and what medication and care the girl would need, all Catherine could think about was that she had hit a teenager. Less often and not as hard as she could have, but she still did it.

Catherine had a lot of questions, but she knew the hospital wasn’t the place to talk. So she signed her out. She had been prepared for a variety of scenarios, from being recognized and asked why she was using a fake name to being asked why she was picking up a random kid…but she didn’t need any of it. Apparently if you share the same last name and look old enough to be her mother (albeit a young one, Catherine would like to think), nobody asks questions.

They got out, Katherine trailing meekly behind her. Got in the car and started driving. The car was silent. Catherine was trying to reconcile the fact that not too long ago they were fighting on a roof and now she had her ‘nemesis’ in her car after springing her out from the hospital…her very teenage girl nemesis. Someone who had been a child not too long ago.

She found a spot and parked. She didn’t want to have the conversation while driving. She checked around. She wanted to be sure that they’d have privacy, but she didn’t want to come across as creepy…let’s take the teenager to a secluded spot and ‘talk’ kind of creepy.

‘So…Katherine, right?’ Catherine had been surprised that a supposed mother-daughter duo sharing a name, well, almost, didn’t raise any eyebrow…but better for her.

The girl nods.

Questions whirred around her head, but she settled on the two main ones. How did she know that name? And why did she give it?

‘I’m pretty good with computer stuff,’ the first words Katherine had uttered besides the panicky apologies at the hospital were soft-spoken. ‘And I needed an emergency contact for school.’ She chanced a glance at Catherine. ‘You’re, like, good. You’re a hero. And you’re a good person even in real life.’

Right, she knows about her identity because she is good with computers. Catherine would worry about that later, but she had a more pressing question. ‘What about your parents? Family?’ She’d understand if she had gotten hurt while out as Pink Menace, not wanting them to know about her…uhm, mostly nocturnal activities. But she got hurt at school. Surely that would make more sense.

She almost wished she hadn’t asked as Katherine unravelled her tale. How she had been the youngest of ten children, with her mom dying when she was around 5 and her father never really caring much for her. How when she was 13 her siblings’ music teacher offered to teach her too. Her dad didn’t want because he didn’t deem her worthy of spending money on but caved when Henry Mannox said he didn’t have to pay. So she started taking music lessons and she loved them…until she discovered that her dad didn’t have to pay, but she did…and not with money. How she went to her father and was told she was ungrateful and lying, an attention-seeking brat. How she was sent away and the same thing happened with her step-grandma’s secretary, and once again she was not believed. She was told she had been asking for it. Katherine had protested, saying she wasn’t. That she’d never ask for a man’s attention because she was a lesbian. She was kicked out. Her dad hadn’t wanted to do anything with her, her siblings following suit. 

Catherine would have been worried about the strangely unemotional way she was telling her story (maybe the meds she was on were making her a bit loopy?), but she was too busy trying to remind herself that she couldn’t kill people. Both her lives depended on her reputation as one of the good ones, and good ones don’t kill, even child-abusive, homophobic assholes (or do they?). And how could anyone ever think that she could be a villain, the same girl admitting that she would feel guilty at pickpocketing and stealing even if she needed it to survive because she was 14 and homeless??

Katherine went on, seemingly ignoring Catherine’s turmoil. Talking about how she realised she didn’t feel as guilty if she was stealing from assholes. How she escalated from pickpocketing those who were rude to waitresses and homeless people to following those of them who were obviously rich to their houses and breaking in. How she got quite good with lock picking and acrobatics and security systems.

And then through her school, because yes, she still had that going on too, she got an internship at one of Henry Tudor’s firms. She thought it was the occasion of a lifetime. A chance to change ‘career’, to stop stealing because she would get some money while getting experience that would hopefully help her getting a job after school. Except he was just like the others.

‘How old were you?’ Catherine croaked out. She didn’t know why she was asking. She had seen the date of birth when she signed the girl out. There was no good answer. Every time she thought Henry couldn’t get any worse, he always managed to surpass even her worst expectations.

‘Almost 16.’

That was also around the time Pink Menace appeared. Katherine nodded. She couldn’t speak up. She knew that. If her own family didn’t believe her, what chances did she have against ‘the king’ of the city? He would completely destroy her and any hope for a better future that she still held. But she could get revenge. In a way. Do something, at least. During her internship she heard things. People would talk…and well, she was just a stupid pretty little thing, wasn’t she?

Catherine ended up driving Katherine home. If you could call _that_ so. The girl could see it written on her face, apparently, because as they climbed the stairs, and wow, Catherine didn’t even want to start thinking about what was on the walls, on the steps, on the…well, everything. She just made sure to avoid even brushing against anything at all. No questions nor documents asked costed, Katherine calmly stated, while Catherine was playing a ‘everything is lava’ extreme version game.

‘What about your…extra-curricular activities?’

Katherine locked the door before answering. It was not like she could sell Henry’s secrets. Well. She could, obviously. But who could tell her that they wouldn’t end up in even worse hands? Not for the first time Catherine wondered exactly what he was involved with, because Katherine made it sound way bigger and way worse than just industrial secrets. And that would mean the dark net, Katherine continued, and there was always an element of danger in it, even more with what she would be dealing with, and she had enough to deal with at the moment, thank you very much. She was trying to graduate school, save the world and trying not to die in the process.

So yeah, what little money she actually made was mostly for rent. Food.

‘Can I offer you something? I have,’ Katherine opened the fridge. ‘Water, and-,’ she sniffed the milk, grimaced, and threw it out. ‘Water. Sorry.’

Not a lot of it, from the pitiful state of her fridge.

‘Don’t take it wrong, but what are you doing?’ Catherine interrupted her. ‘Why are telling me all of this?’

‘I was hoping that you also wouldn’t want to let Henry get away with it, because, you know…’ Right. The girl knows her real identity too. ‘I can give you what I have on him so while I’m in jail-’

‘Wait, jail? You took me to your place thinking I would send you to jail?!? What kind of person do you think– you know what? Don’t answer that.’ Catherine looked at the girl. At the bare flat. At the hard drives that she had taken out from what had seemed an empty cupboard. ‘I’m not taking you to the police…but I’m taking you home with me.’

‘What?’

‘You heard what the doctors said. How would you even do some of that by yourself?’ Some of the instructions definitely required a second pair of hands.

‘Like I did before.’ Kat shrugs, absolutely unfazed.

As if Catherine needed a reminder, thank you very much. She hadn’t stopped thinking about it. Like that time that she knew for sure she was hurt, because she had been slower in evading her hits, and she had stumbled away rather than the usually graceful exit…Henry had boosted the next day about his security team having managed to hit ‘the Pink Menace that was hassling him’. She couldn’t stop imagining her crawling to this hole, dealing with her injuries alone. And all the times her own blows landed? She had hit a 16-year-old girl?!? That will be forever on her conscience.

‘You don’t need to now. I want to help.’

Suspicion was clear on Katherine’s face. Like she was trying to figure out why Catherine would want to help her. Fair enough, considering her experience with adults. Which made her accepting all the more important. Half-hearted protests finally petered out, a sliver of relief that someone was willing to take care of her shining through despite Katherine’s best efforts to keep a neutral face.

Catherine could help being touched by the trust Katherine was showing her, as the girl collected what she wanted to bring with her. Some clothes. School stuff. Technology…quite impressive, but ‘Can’t hack or do corporate espionage on school computers!’.

‘Is this…?’ Catherine was trying to give her some privacy, but her eyes had fallen upon a familiar choker.

‘Voice modifier? Yeah. I had just started when I stumbled upon a…hideout? It was full of gadget and stuff, and well, I took some.’ Catherine knew it reminded her of something! Green Phantom also wore a choker, albeit it was…well, green and not pink. ‘I left most of the weapons. No need to make an enemy out of the owner, you know. Also I never really wanted to hurt anybody, so…’

‘Is this everything?’

It wasn’t much, but Katherine nodded. ‘I don’t need much.’ She didn’t have much. ‘And I will be back soon anyway.’

Not if Catherine had a say in it. All the times she thought she didn’t have maternal instinct? Sure, she might have wished for children during her marriage, but she had been so happy not to have had them and she never revisited the topic after. So she thought that maybe she had ‘wanted’ them because it was expected. Because it was what she needed to have a perfect family. To keep _him_. But maybe she never actually wanted them. Maybe she just wasn’t made to be a parent.

Maybe she was wrong, Catherine mused weeks later watching Katherine setting up a veritable workstation in a corner of her home office. The girl had agreed to remain with her even after her injuries had healed. She also agreed that Pink Menace would take a backseat while she focused on school. With her previous ‘nemesis’ turned tech support, Golden Crown’s life was definitely easier and less busy. Which meant more time to devote to taking ‘the king’ down. And once he would be dealt with, Catherine would move onto every single person who had ever hurt Katherine.

So yeah. Maybe she was wrong. Because Catherine is pretty sure that she had basically adopted a teenager and it had been the best decision she had ever made in her life.


	2. What was supposed to happen next

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What was supposed to happen next (but won't get written)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For [ PikaPals16](/users/PikaPals16/), who wanted to know a bit more. This was the plan...
> 
> These are just the notes I wrote down when I thought I would write more of this story. That is not going to happen anymore but in case you're also curious...

Catherine would round up four other women. Telling them that they have in common one person…and she thought they might want to help taking him down.

Catherine is a lawyer. She had dated Henry since she was a teenager and then married him, only to be divorced with no real reason (well, he cheated but he tried to make the divorce her fault).

Anne is also a lawyer, an environmental one. She had dated Henry, without knowing he was married. She got pregnant and he wanted her to get an abortion. She disappeared to make sure the baby would be safe. Yes, Henry is _that_ powerful.

Jane works in PR. Through work she met Henry. They dated but he broke up with her when she told him she was pregnant. Told her he loved her, but she wasn’t ‘good enough’ to marry. He offered to make Edward his heir but Jane would have had to sign away her rights and she refused. Their affair had not been public and since he actually had some feelings for her, he let her go and let her be as long as she keeps her mouth shut.

Henry had pursued Anna looking for a business merger, wanting her money and stuff, but apparently she wasn’t pretty enough for him [first of all, bullshit. Second, Henry might have been handsome when he was young and dating Catherine, but years, alcohol and food didn’t make him any favours] and told everyone about it.

Cathy is a writer/journalist and Henry destroyed her life. She was supposed to marry Thomas but Henry had his eyes on her and paid off Thomas with a job overseas…good riddance, since anyone who would give up on his fiancée for a job clearly doesn’t deserve her, but still. Cathy had plans and Henry ruined them.

Katherine arrives, talking about school. Didn’t know Catherine had a daughter. She is sort of a public figure so that should be known…right? Catherine offhandedly tells them it’s a recent acquisition.

Catherine makes them sign a NDA before starting to talk. Bloody lawyers, Anne complains, ignoring the fact that she is a lawyer herself (also she is impressed by the contract, not that she’d ever admit it)

To convince them Catherine mentions details that are not known to public.

‘How do you-?’

Kat: ‘Oh, we know everything.’

‘Sound creepy, but I’ll bite.’

They get a file…on themselves (like each file just has info of that person, they are not going to tell other people’s secrets. Like that Anne was Green Phantom and she has a daughter. It’s just to show they do know stuff)

They are unsettled. Questions about how they got the info.

‘I can find more. Easily. I could destroy your life with a click if you wanted.’

‘What did we discuss about villainry?’ Catherine sounds like they had that discussion multiple times already.

‘That the line between villain and criminal is arbitrary. You steal and kill and you’re criminal. But as soon as you steal from Henry, you’re suddenly public enemy number one.’ Kat recites.

‘That too.’

[Anne agrees]

They find out that the next in line on Catherine’s ‘hit list’ are the Howards and their associates. Curious about what they did to deserve it. Anne doesn’t know but agrees that they deserve everything they got (bad blood with family too).

Reveal of Kat being a Howard and consequently Anne’s cousin. (Catherine and Kat already know since they started putting the dossiers together. They had never been close but Kat knew her name. Didn’t seem relevant to tell Anne from the start since they never really met.)

[Maybe something about how they are all connected in some way, beyond Henry? Like Catherine adopting Anne’s cousin. Jane being their second cousin. Cathy’s Thomas being Jane’s estranged brother. Catherine having known Cathy’s mom. Kat and Anna having met while Kat was interning at Henry’s firm.]

They put together everything they have on Henry. Most come from Kat, but everyone chips in with inside knowledge.

Green Phantom will reappear and cause a big commotion / distraction, drawing all attention and manpower.

Pink Menace will come out of retirement too and break into a facility. Only to get caught at the very last minute by Golden Crown and abandoning all she got (most of which she brought from home).

Golden Crown will see how incriminating those files are and deliver them to police….someone she trusts and knows isn’t corrupt thanks to her real-life job. Police gets a warning that someone else also has the files (apparently Pink Menace had the time to do that) and will publish them if they don’t act correctly and try to bury the matter.

Cathy has ready an exposé, whether the police goes public or not. Jane and Catherine are ready to deal with anything that happens after that thanks to their jobs (for example repercussions for Cathy or in the unlikely case someone starts to suspect their involvement). Anna’s involvement is mainly a financial one. She provides some funds, but also she will be the one who will profit the most from Henry’s fall, her business taking over the space he left.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun random fact: in my notes the superheroes' names were all shortened...which made for a confusing moment when I re-read it after months because I saw GC and thought group chat, PM and I didn't rememeber involving the Prime Minister and GP...I suspected fandom people would not think general practice. So I went and wrote them all out.


End file.
